SWAKOPMUND –The government plans to acquire 5 million hectares of commercial farmland by 2020 to resettle more previously disadvantaged landless Namibians.
So far government has acquired 2.3 million hectares on which 4 981 previously disadvantaged Namibians have already being resettled through the land acquisition programme.
Apart from that, 5 112 existing customary land rights and 8 275 new customary land rights applications have already been registered, while 343 general leaseholds and 385 small-scale commercial farming leaseholds were issued so far. A total of 24 104 rights are owned by women.
The Minister of Lands and Resettlement Alpheus !Naruseb revealed the positive developments in land reform when he addressed a consultative meeting with close to 100 traditional leaders who recently attended the 16th Council of Traditional Leaders, which ended last Friday in Swakopmund.
!Naruseb said his ministry is tasked with the mammoth responsibility of addressing past imbalances of land ownership. “It is an insurmountable task to eliminate the programme of over a century in 23 years of independence, therefore the land reform programme seems very slow for a nation that has waited centuries for their rights to be restored,” he said.
Communal land where the majority of Namibians reside, he said, had no formal administration instruments until the Communal Land Reform Act No. 5 of 2002 came into place. “The ministry has therefore implemented the programme on expansion of communal areas as provided for under the Communal Land Reform Act”, he said. The National Land Conference held in 1991 noted that communal areas sustain the great majority of Namibian farmers, especially the poor ones. Against this backdrop, he said, it was decided that communal areas should be retained, developed and expanded where necessary.
“This was due to the fact that the majority of the Namibian people live in overcrowded communal areas which are not even developed in terms of water infrastructure,” said the lands minister.
!Naruseb during the tabling of his ministry’s budget earlier this year indicated that government needs N$371 million a year to buy 280 000 hectares of land, until it reaches its target of 5 million hectares under the national resettlement programme.
Since the introduction of the land reform programme in 2006 a total of 2.3 million hectares of land has been appropriated, while 2.7 million hectares still have to be acquired. The ministry acquired 16 farms with a total area of 92 997 hectares last year.
In terms of post-resettlement support the minister said the Agricultural Bank of Namibia contributes N$10 million for the resettlement programme and has already collectively contributed N$60 million since 2009.
By Eveline de Klerk